On December 31, an adjusting entry will show a debit insurance expense for $400—the amount that expired or one-sixth of $2,400—and will credit prepaid insurance for $400. This translates to five months of insurance that has not yet expired times $400 per month or five-sixths of the $2,400 insurance premium cost. The term prepaid insurance refers to payments that are made by individuals and businesses to their insurers in advance for insurance services or coverage. Premiums are normally paid a full year in advance, but in some cases, they may cover more than 12 months.

• Company A signs a one-year lease on a warehouse for $10,000 a month.
• When asking “What is normal balance,” it’s worth taking the time to also look at contra accounts.
• Prepaid insurance is an asset account as it represents the advance amount paid by a firm to the insurer for the insurance services of the upcoming fiscal period.
• For example, if you pay your $1,500 annual home insurance premium in one payment, then sell your house six months into the policy’s term, the insurer will have to refund the unused premium.

He has been the CFO or controller of both small and medium sized companies and has run small businesses of his own. He has been a manager and an auditor with Deloitte, a big 4 accountancy firm, and holds a degree from Loughborough University. For this reason the account balance for items on the left hand side of the equation is normally a debit and the account balance for items on the right side of the equation is normally a credit. Company A signs a one-year lease on a warehouse for $10,000 a month.

Since adjusting entries involve a balance sheet account and an income statement account, it is wise to monitor the balances in both Prepaid Insurance and Insurance Expense throughout the year. The amount that has not yet expired should be the balance in Prepaid Insurance. The amount that has expired should be reported as Insurance Expense. These contra accounts are accounts that are offset against another account.

Likewise, the net effect of the prepaid insurance journal entry in this example is zero on the balance sheet. This is due to one asset increases $1,200 and another asset decreases $1,200. Prepaid expenses are amounts paid in advance by a business in exchange for goods or services to be delivered in the future.

Pros and Cons of Prepaid Insurance

While prepayment and monthly billing are standard ways to pay an insurance premium, some auto insurance companies offer pay-per-mile policies. Although each account has a normal balance in practice it is possible for any account to have either a debit or a credit balance depending on the bookkeeping entries made. On the internal level, balance sheets let organizations analyze their current activities to better implement measures to correct and improve company performance. You can compile balance sheets at any point and in a variety of formats for this purpose.

• For example, the $1,200 prepaid policy will reduce in value by $100 each month, which you adjust in your ledger.
• Prepaid Expenses are referred to as representative personal accounts (accounts that represent a certain person or group of people).
• You don’t need a bank account to use prepaid cards, which is why they appeal to people who are unable to access traditional banking.
• Investors and business owners can use the normal balance to determine the financial situation of a company, including how much debt the business has and how many properties it owns.

Non-Current Assets, on the other hand, are long-term investments that are likely to continue rendering profits (or cash flows) for the company for more than 12 months. The debit balance at the end of the year is shown on the asset side of the balance sheet and the amount is carried forward to the next year. Insurance becomes an asset when you experience a risk covered in your insurance plan, which activates your coverage, allowing you to make a claim and receive a successful payout.

Prepaid Expenses Example

Prepaid insurance is amount paid in advance that’s why it is an
asset of business and like all other assets accounts it also has
debit balance as normal balance. The company usually purchases insurance to protect itself from unforeseen incidents such as fire or theft. And the company is usually required to pay an insurance fees for one year or more in advance. In this case, it needs to account for prepaid insurance by properly making journal entries in order to avoid errors that could lead to misstatement on both balance sheet and income statement. Prepaid expenses are expenses that are bought or paid for in advance, and may include things like insurance, rent, utilities, and subscriptions.

What is Normal Balance of Accounts?

On the other hand, prepaid expenses imply that a company is liable to receive a service (or goods) against which they have already made the payment. Prepaid expenses, such as stress testing for financial services prepaid rent and prepaid insurance, represent assets for a business until they are used. Prepaid insurance is coverage you pay for in full before you receive its benefits.

Prepaid Expense Accounting

Accrual-based accounting is used across all organizations today to apply the matching principle of accounting. This is mainly done to match the revenues for a particular period with the subsequent expenses covered in the given time frame. Prepaid expenses are classified as assets as they represent goods and services that will be consumed, typically within a year. Prepaid Expenses are referred to as representative personal accounts (accounts that represent a certain person or group of people). According to the rule for personal accounts, we have to debit the receiver of the benefit and credit the giver of the same.

Alternatives to Prepaid Insurance

This helps to capture the company’s profitability, over the given course of time, with much-needed accuracy. Prepaid Insurance (Asset) is Debited (Dr.) when increased & Credited (Cr.) when decreased. We now offer 10 Certificates of Achievement for Introductory Accounting and Bookkeeping. Julia Kagan is a financial/consumer journalist and former senior editor, personal finance, of Investopedia.

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It is treated as a Current Asset (and not as Non-Current Asset) because in most business cases, the amount paid in advance lasts for a shorter duration than 12 months. We’ve outlined the procedure for reporting prepaid expenses below in a little more detail, along with a few examples. Prepaid insurance is an asset account as it represents the advance amount paid by a firm to the insurer for the insurance services of the upcoming fiscal period.

The assets of a company refer to resources the business owns and uses, while liabilities show the people behind the money and how much money they contributed. The resources a company owns are provided by either creditors or owners. The accounts’ normal balance is among the most important forms of accounting. Investors and business owners can use the normal balance to determine the financial situation of a company, including how much debt the business has and how many properties it owns. LO
4.4Prepare an adjusted trial balance from the following adjusted account balances (assume accounts have normal balances). LO
4.3Prepare adjusting journal entries, as needed, considering the account balances excerpted from the unadjusted trial balance and the adjustment data.

However, after adjusting entry at the end of the period for the insurance expense, the asset account will decrease while the expense account will increase. Likewise, the adjusting entry at the end of the period is necessary for the company to recognize the cost that expires through the passage of time. Most prepaid expenses appear on the balance sheet as a current asset unless the expense is not to be incurred until after 12 months, which is rare. On December 31, anadjusting entrywill show a debit insurance expense for $400—the amount that expired or one-sixthof $2,400—and will credit prepaid insurance for $400. This means that the debit balance in prepaid insurance on December 31 will be $2,000. This translates to fivemonths of insurance that has not yet expired times $400 per month or five-sixthsof the $2,400 insurance premium cost.

As of November 30, none of the $2,400 has expired and the entire $2,400 will be reported as prepaid insurance. The initial journal entry for a prepaid expense does not affect a company’s financial statements. The initial journal entry for prepaid rent is a debit to prepaid rent and a credit to cash. The payment is entered on November 20 with a debit of $2,400 to prepaid insurance and a credit of $2,400 to cash. On July 1, the company receives a premium refund of $120 from the insurance company.